Published on February 4th, 2010

Gift drive a success in Barrow

By KAYLA R. JEFFRESS

Share via G-Mail Share via Yahoo Mail Share via Hotmail Share via Buzzster Share via Delicious Digg this article Share via Fark Share via FriendFeed Share via Reddit Share via Stumbleupon Share via Twitter Share via Yahoo Buzz Share via Facebook Share via MySpace Change article font size Print this article Email this article Send this article to Promobot

JOE OKAKOK, Courtesy Photo

Ilisagvik student services assistant Saga Aina poses as Santa at the Barrow Senior Center.

Gift donations from the entire Barrow community and the gift of time and effort from Ilisagvik College students helped to brighten the holiday season for many community members in 2009.

From Nov. 20 to Dec. 15 the Ilisagvik College Student Government and Student Services department worked together to collect gifts for families in Barrow. Student body president Renee Hobson and vice president Joseph Okakok came up with the idea for the gift drive. They coordinated with fellow student Ben Cunningham and student services assistant Saga Aina, cultural activities specialist Ruth Aiken, and van driver Will Pili to make several gift-donation drop boxes and placed them in various locations around Barrow. During their collection period the students and staff members gathered more than 300 gifts, enough to generously distribute to families and institutions in the community.

On Christmas Eve, Okakok, Cunningham and Aina delivered the gifts to the North Slope Borough Arctic Women in Crisis Shelter, Child and Youth Services, the Barrow Senior Center, and low-income families.

"It felt great," Okakok said. "It is better to give than to receive!"

Student services assistant Saga Aina added, "we all felt good. Just seeing the smiles on faces at the Senior Center and at CYS, everyone was happy. It was really fulfilling."

On Christmas Day they took the surplus gifts to various churches.

For their hard work on this project, Ilisagvik College president Beverly Patkotak Grinage applauded the student government.

"They thought of this endeavor on their own, and used their energy and initiative to make a merrier Christmas for others! Their community engagement and service is an asset to Ilisagvik College and our North Slope community."

President Grinage concluded by saying "Quyanaqpak!" to Ipalook Elementary School for its generous donation of books and toys to the gift drive.

Kayla R. Jeffress is the administrative assistant of External Relations and Development at Ilisagvik College in Barrow.

Contact us about this article at editor@thearcticsounder.com

 

Copyright 2010

The Arctic Sounder is a publication of Alaska Newspapers, Inc. This article is © 2010 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are granted for this printing only. This article, in any form, may not be further reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Portions of this article may belong to other agencies; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Newspapers, Inc. makes no provisions for further distribution.